October 24, 2011

San Diego Puppy has been selling puppies online for over a year. We have been tracking them since November 12, 2010 and have a file with over 90 actions to date! They are now going public with a kiosk at Horton Plaza. Come if you can. This is the day they are advertizing as their "Grand Opening!"

WHEN

Tuesday, November 1

TIME

1 - 5 PM

WHERE

Horton Plaza downtown

lower level near Forever 21Go past the clock on level 1. The kiosk is in the middle of theClark's store and the Guess store.

October 23, 2011

One of our Animal Defense Team protesters was falsely arrested with a citizen's arrest by an employee of Puppy Star's at the October 7 protest. He has now filed a lawsuit against the store and the employee as a First Amendment Complaint for Battery, False Arrest and Imprisonment, Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress and Violation of the Tom Bane Civil Rights Act.

The summons for the lawsuit was served by our attorney, Bryan Pease, during the protest last Friday, October 21.

Summons is being served 10-21-11

Thanks Bryan!

The defendants now have 30 days to respond.

Protesters Friday October 21 -- Over 20 animal advocates stood against greed and for compassion!﻿

INVESTIGATIONS

Naedeen's Puppies

ADT members are investigating Naedeen's Puppies, 1021 S. Coast Hywy in Oceanside and Pet Place, 6512 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego. Both are owned by the same owners as Puppy Star's. Naedeeen's is an empty storefront but when we heard puppies inside and knocked on the door, an employee let us in. He told us they are opening as a puppy store and groomer's in two weeks. They are currently selling puppies online, including the following breeds: Boxers, Pugs, Dachshunds, Yorkiepoo, Pomeranian, Labrador, German Shepherd, Boston terrier, Toy Maltese, Golden Retrievers, Lilac Beagles, Siberian Huskies, Jack-Russell-Dachshunds, American Eskimo Miniature, Puggle, Toy Yorkie, French Bulldog, Italian Greyhound Mini, Parti Yorkie, Silky Terrier, Mini Pincher Teacups. He said they could get us any breed we wanted.

In the meantime, the facility is being used to hold puppies. Seven Yorkie mix puppies were being housed in plastic children's swimming pools.

Front window sign: Puppies and Kittens (Naedeen's Puppies)

Back doors of Naedeen's Puppies

Space as seen through the other window -- crates being assembled

Inside of storefront unit

Yorkie mixes housed in plastic swimming pools

The one employee at the site told us the owners of Puppy Star's and Naedeen's Puppies also own a third puppy store: Pet Place, 6512 El Cajon Blvd., San Diego. When asked if all locations sell local puppies (as indicated on the cage labels) he said "No! Breeders, breeders, breeders!" and that all the puppies are being purchased through Lambriar, Inc. (Lambriar is a notorious broker for the midwestern puppy mills. Located in Kansas, it is the second largest puppy mill broker in the country, behind #1 Hunte Corp. Lambriar processes thousands of puppies through its Kansas facilities every year.)

Pet Place, San Diego

The Pet Place store had a total of 22 puppies. The odor was very strong and cages weren't clean. The glass fronts were smeared and dirty to the point views of the puppies were obscured.

We could see puppies were also caged in the back of the store. The teenage boy who was the only employee present, told us we couldn't see the puppies in the back because they either "hadn't had their shots or were too young to sell."

Supporters across the nation have taken a stand against puppy mills, and pet stores are taking notice. Recently, Jack’s Pets, one of the largest pet store chains in the Midwest, has decided to no longer sell puppies in any of its stores. Instead, Jack’s will work with the ASPCA to expand its work with local animal shelters and rescue groups to offer in-store pet adoptions.

October 16, 2011

Momentum continues to grow! Our protest at Puppy Stars on Friday evening, October 14 drew 50 people! We were able to completely cover the front of the store and have people lined up on Balboa Ave. as well. Thanks to everyone for coming -- some of you after work, some from distances. We had protesters from Escondido and Tijuana! Each one of you makes a difference and is an important voice insisting on the ban of selling puppies in pet stores and breeding dogs in factory farms.

We are working hard on organizing the protests in what we hope will be the most effective way for us to have an impact. We appreciate your flexibility as we continue.

If you purchased a puppy from Puppy Stars or Naedeen Puppies or from their online sales -- and if you had any problems with the puppy, please email us. We can help. We also are receiving reports that the store employees/owners are being confrontive with the public, to the point that in one case there was an incident of physical assault. Please contact us if you have similiar experiences. We will keep you updated on our own lawsuit as we progress.

October 15, 2011

Shopping center developer Macerich has announced a major policy breakthrough to take effect within 30 days: No more sales of live animals in its 70 shopping centers across the United States! Leases of existing pet stores that sell animals will not be renewed and will be replaced with humane stores offering rescue adoptions.
Included are the Los Angeles Westside Pavillion, Fashion Square in Scottsdale and Santa Monica Place.

Animal activist and film producer Jennifer Peterson researched puppy mills and pet stores and initiated the Facebook page, "Boycott Barkworks." She then contacted all 74 Macerich shopping center regarding their pet store policies and after a year of negotiations with shopping center management, the new ban is becoming official policy.

October 14, 2011

The ASPCA Field Investigations and Response (FIR) Team is in Rowan County, Kentucky, helping care for 118 small-breed dogs including Chihuahuas, Dachshunds, Papillons, Min Pins and Poodles—several pregnant and some just a few weeks old—who were removed from horrifyingly filthy, cramped cages on October 6.

The dogs are now receiving care they desperately need; many of them were found covered in mold and matted fur, suffering from infection, dental disease and various other ailments.

An ASPCA emergency sheltering team and other veterinary experts are helping care for and assess the dogs at the Rowan County Animal Shelter. At the same time, the team is working to place the roughly 30 animals who were already in the shelter. ASPCA responders are also completing thorough evaluations of the rescued animals and helping local authorities collect evidence to support criminal charges, which the Rowan county attorney told media he hoped would be filed this week.

The dogs were discovered after the Rowan County Attorney’s Office received complaints about the facility.

This case is the latest to highlight the urgent need to bring an end to puppy mills. The ASPCA has rescued hundreds of puppy mill dogs and aided in the prosecution of their owners. We’ve also been active in drafting and promoting legislation that would improve the lives of puppy mill dogs, most recently in Texas and Pennsylvania.

“Most people don’t realize that the cute puppies they see in their local pet store window and on websites come from deplorable conditions like this facility,” says FIR Senior Director Tim Rickey. “We appreciate the efforts of the Rowan County Attorney’s Office in pursuing this investigation, and we’re pleased to be able to assist the local authorities in the fight against puppy mills.”

October 11, 2011

One of our Animal Defense Team protesters was falsely arrested with a citizen's arrest by an owner/employee of Puppy Stars at last Friday's protest. (October 7) He was held and released at the site by the San Diego Police Department. We are in the process of filing a lawsuit for false arrest.Puppy Stars has a history of trying to violate our civil rights and intimidate Animal Defense Team protesters at this store. They have used racial and sexual taunts and slurs in an attempt to stop our protests and to limit our freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.

Are we intimidated? NO!

Are we going back? YES!

JOIN US TO SUPPORT FREE SPEECH RIGHTS AND

THE CRUEL FARMING OF DOGS AT PUPPY MILLS!

WHEN: This Friday, October 14

5 - 7 PM

WHERE: Puppy Stars

6167 Balboa Ave.

Clairemont

The Animal Defense Team has been protesting at Puppy Stars since the week they opened, August 20, 2011. This store sells puppies from factory farms in Missiouri, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio. These are some of the worst puppy mill states in the U.S., filled with breeding kennels with up to 1,000 dogs. Business records show in addition to Puppy Stars, Le Kim and Nguyen Huong own Naedeen Puppies in Oceanside and sell masses of puppies online.

October 05, 2011 - By Julie Castle -
When Best Friends began our peaceful protests of the Barkworks chain of puppy stores in Southern California in 2008, I knew that something had to give — and knowing the passion and commitment of our team, I knew it wasn’t going to be our side.

It was one thing for me to be confident in the inevitability of change, but quite another for the volunteers on the front line who went out week after week for 150 weeks straight with nothing to go on but their profound resolve to help bring an end to the horror of puppy mills.

After three years of patiently handing out literature about puppy mills and hearing and documenting countless stories of sick puppies purchased by unsuspecting shoppers from Barkworks, our amazing volunteers finally have something to cheer about. Last week, the Animal Legal Defense Fund, armed with the reports gathered by Best Friends volunteer teams, filed a class action lawsuit against Barkworks, claiming the stores repeatedly engage in fraud and false advertising in an effort to conceal from customers that they acquire their puppies from abusive puppy mills.

The puppy stores in Los Angeles and elsewhere around the country are the rosebuds on the dung heap that is the world of commercial breeding that begins with marginally regulated puppy mills.

Puppies are cute by definition, but if customers were able to see where over 98 percent of them come from, most would run in the other direction. No one wants to support the cruelty of the mills and no one wants to risk the unknown possible illnesses, congenital defects and behavior problems that are a fact of life when pets are force-bred in factory farm–like operations.

Puppy mills and their pet store accomplices push a stream of animals to market with no regard to their ultimate well-being. About 25 percent of shelter dogs are purebred and many of those began life in a puppy mill.

Additionally, when someone who wants to get a pet goes to a pet store and buys one rather than adopting one from a shelter or rescue organization, he or she is not only supporting a cruel industry, the person is allowing a shelter pet to remain and possibly die in a local shelter.

So, hats off to the tenacious Best Friends volunteers who have given up their weekends for years and will continue to do so as long as animals are dying needlessly in shelters and puppy mills are allowed to operate with impunity.

When it comes to a test of wills, I know which side I’m betting on.

If you want to read more about the class action lawsuit against Barkworks, and other work that’s being done to end the abuses of puppy mills, visit the Best Friends Network News pages on puppy mills.

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Wall of Shame: These San Diego Stores Sell Puppies

The Animal Defense Team has targeted the stores listed in red with protests.

San Diego Puppy

5825 Mission Gorge Rd.

David Salinas is selling puppy mill puppies in this storefront and online.His Horton Plaza kiosk was cancelled the day before our big protest there. Surprise! We are continuing to monitor Horton Plaza to be sure no other puppy stores open there. We have been protesting and doing educational outreach at this store since May, 2012. Please join us at our events.

Puppy Star'sCLOSED MARCH 2012!!!

6167 Balboa Ave.

Clairemont

+ Naedeen's Puppies -- owned by Puppy Star'sCLOSED MARCH 2012!!!

1021 S. Coast Highway

Oceanside

+ Pet Place -- owned by Puppy Star'sCLOSED 2012!!!

6512 El Cajon Blvd.

San Diego

Lemon Grove Pets

7034 Broadway

Lemon Grove, CA 91945

619-460-1965

My PuppyClosed! This store has shut down. If you hear of it reopening in a different location, please let us know. 7770 Vickers St. Ste. 101, San Diego 92111

The Reality of Puppy Mills

BAN PUPPY STORES!

You can personalize your letter. The sale of puppies in pet stores in the city/county of San Diego, the state of California and our country is brutal and inhumane. Their mothers are suffering as we write this and we demand that it stop.
These letters go to President Obama, Senators and Representatives. Please sign today!

This video is posted on Youtube by San Diego Puppy

We have no idea if this was posted by mistake, if this is one of their "breeders" or if they think this is a good instructional video for when you take your puppy home. Whatever, it's worth watching.

Cash Crops

chickens and dogs -- livestock

From Sourcewatch.com: USDA

USDA certified puppy mills There are only about a hundred USDA inspectors to monitor 10,000 facilities across the country, ranging from research labs to zoos. Furthermore, "standards" are abysmal. Federal guidelines allow a medium sized terrier to be kept in a cage the size of a clothes drier for its entire life. The federal Animal Welfare Act is hardly the gold standard for compassion. For example, the act does not say you cannot have 300 dogs confined to cages for their entire lives; never to be taken for a walk or receive any personal attention, let alone be a part of a family. A breeder passes USDA muster as long as the dog has food, water and enough space to turn around. USDA standards are very minimal. Adhering to them does not prove that a breeder is not a puppy mill. Even more so, since even these standards are often not enforced. Many licensed breeders for large chains like Petland, have significant violations. [12]

Rise Up! Resist! Puppy Mills Should Not Exist!

Puppy Mills and Pet Store

Prisoners of Greed Compassionate Vet Pledge

We are researching which San Diego County veterinarians partner with local puppy stores and will be posting them to this website soon. We will also present provide those vets with puppy mill information, ask them to reconsider their alignment with pet stores selling puppies, and give them the opportunity to sign the Compassionate Vet Pledge.
Compassionate VetPledgeMost dogs in puppy mills live their entire lives in wire bottom cages, they are bred when they are six months old, bred every time they come into season, never allowed out of the cage to exercise, not provided quality food or medical care, left outside in the winter and summer without heat or air-conditioning and killed when they do not produce. Certainly veterinarians who are dedicated to the care of animals would object to these practices.

The Federal Animal Welfare Act requires that a veterinarian prepare a vet plan. Without a plan, the kennel can not obtain a license from the United States Department of Agriculture. If every vet in this country, stood for compassion and refused to be the vet of record for a commercial kennel or a pet store that sells dogs/puppies, no commercial kennels could operate.

We are asking all vets to sign the Pledge of Compassion. Every vet who signs the Pledge will receive a framed Certificate of Compassion to hang in their office. The vets will also be featured on this website and recommended as Compassionate Vets. Clients can then determine whether their vet is a Compassionate Vet who will stand up against the misery created in commercial kennels.

Print the pledge and take it to your vet. Have them sign it. Send us a copy and also send it to the Coalition Against Misery Box 343 Pocopson, PA 19366. They will send them the framed certificate and some Prisoners of Greed brochures to display in their office.

What is a Puppy Mill?

The term is used by Humane Societies, the ASPCA and the community to indicate USDA kennels that commercially raise wholesale dogs with profit instead of the welfare of the animals as their primary objective. The dogs are farmed as a cash crop.

Animal Planet says it's now a one billion dollar industry with brokers, breeders and pet stores getting rich off of the unbelievable suffering of the dogs in the breeding mills. Under the USDA standard of care, the breeding dogs -- the mothers of the puppies -- NEVER get out of their cages, are housed in wire crates, often stacked so that the dogs on the bottom tier live in terrible stench and filth with no human contact, and receive only enough food and water to be kept alive. YES THIS IS LEGAL, BUT THAT DOESN'T MAKE IT HUMANE.

The HSUS: "The kennel conditions in which puppies are bred and raised are deliberately kept from consumers."

Missouri Puppy Mill Bust/Support Prop B!

71 Dogs Removed from Missouri Puppy Mill; Help Support Prop. B!
On September 21, the ASPCA Field Investigations and Response Team in conjunction with the Humane Society of Missouri (HSMO) removed 71 dogs from an overrun puppy mill in Camden County, MO. The dogs—who include Dachshunds, Maltese, Shih Tzus, Lhasa Apsos, Huskies and Boxers—were transferred to the Humane Society of Southwest Missouri in Springfield and HSMO in St. Louis, where they received medical treatment and will be cared for until they’re ready for adoption.
“This case was unique in that the dogs were voluntarily relinquished by the kennel owner who could no longer afford to feed them,” explains Tim Rickey, ASPCA Senior Director of Field Investigations and Response. Last week the mill owner contacted a local rescue group, Half-way Home Pet Rescue in Cedar County, for help, and Half-way Home then reached out to the ASPCA.
“When breeders are no longer able to care for their animals, the problem lands squarely on the shoulders of local shelters,” says Half-way Home’s Latisha Duffy, who works closely with breeders in Missouri to find homes for retired breeding dogs.
Known as the “Puppy Mill Capital of America,” Missouri is home to more than 3,000 commercial dog breeding facilities and supplies more than 40 percent of all dogs sold in pet stores nationwide. “We see some of the worst conditions in Missouri puppy mills,” explains Rickey. “The dogs, often very ill, are forced to live in overcrowded, filthy conditions.”
In an effort to end the many cruelties associated with puppy mills, the ASPCA, a founding member of Missourians for the Protection of Dogs/YES! on Prop. B, is supporting Proposition B, also known as the Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act. This landmark measure, which will appear on the state’s November ballot, promotes the humane treatment of dogs in Missouri’s large-scale commercial breeding kennels. If passed, Prop B would limit the number of breeding dogs to 50 per facility, and would require large-scale breeders to sufficient food, water and space for the animals under their care.
To learn how to extend your support for Proposition B, please visit our Puppy Mill section on ASPCA.org.

The Truth About Horse Racing

Last year's shameful death list of horses who died racing at Del Mar:Mr. Napper TandyPocosin's Game BoyI Want My MoneyMi ReySovine Peanut RidgeMaggie and Hopie InsiderMad for Plaid Pauper's Prize Zetta's Corridor Endless Moon Madame KiawahLast year (2009) 230 horses died at California race tracks, including the 13 at Del Mar. The evidence is clear: the industry is breeding speed over soundness. Horse's bones, tendons and ligaments cannot hold up to the extreme punishment of racing and horses are paying for it with their lives.

The Animal Defense Team doesn't think this qualifies as either "sport" or entertainment. Do you?Horses are being trained and raced as two-year-olds, before they are fully mature. Drugs mask problems like pain and bleeding into the lungs, pushing them beyond their physical limits. Lasix, phenylbutazme and corticosteroids are legally used across the country. Drugs keep horses on the racetrack even when they shouldn't be racing.

Losers or injured horses are quickly discarded and sent to the slaughterhouses in Mexico and Canada. Since 1980, the Equine Protection Network states more than 4 million horses have been barbarically slaughtered. The Humane Society of the US estimates at least 11,000 a year.

Racehorses are the victims of an industry based on greed, drugging, deception and death. Del Mar. CRUEL AS EVER.

PET STORE DOUBLESPEAK

They say: "Our puppies come from breeders, not puppy mills." The word "breeder" isn't an exclusive term. Anyone who produces puppies is technically a breeder. A responsible breeder would never sell her puppies to a pet store.
They say: "All our puppies come from USDA facilities, so we know they are not from puppy mills."Being USDA licensed doesn't mean that the business is not a puppy mill. There are hundreds of USDA-licensed puppy mills in operation that have long lists of violations and problems. A USDA license is required for anyone who is a commercial breeder producing dogs for wholesale.
They say: "We only deal with breeders we know."The store's definition of "knowing" a breeder often just means that they have been receiving shipments of puppies from the same place repeatedly, not that anyone from the store has ever visited the breeder's facility or inspected their records.
They say: "Our puppies come with a health certificate from a licensed veterinarian." A health certificate only means that the puppy has had a brief "wellness" exam by a vet. This exam doesn't include testing for genetic disorders, or testing for diseases such as Giardia and Brucellosis, both of which are contagious to humans and are frequently seen in puppy mill pups.

Congratulations! These Stores Have Signed A Puppy Friendly Pet Store Pledge